Nursery in South London does U-Turn over imposing Vegan-only Menu
Nursery apologises for lack of consultation and re-instates dairy and eggs
The German Kindergarten in South London has apologised to parents after imposing a vegan-only menu without consultation, after parents made their displeasure known.
“I would like to apologise for the decision to go plant-based in the kindergarten without consultation. I can see that there are greater concerns about a plant-based diet for young children than I had anticipated” wrote Barbara Sebek, a director, to the parents.
According to the Times, a mother said that the surprise decision was simply announced at a recent parents’ evening.
A poll after the meeting found that only five per cent of parents wished for their diet to be vegan-only even though some 70 per cent of them wanted more plant-based dishes in their child’s diet.
‘Quite a lot of parents expressed dismay at the lack of consultation,’ said the mother.
‘Everyone was surprised. There was a lot of concern about whether deciding on a child’s diet was the domain of a childcare provider.’
There is some controversy about young children having an exclusively vegan diet. The USA’s Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine certainly believes that it is not an issue.
The German Kindergarten which has branches in Herne Hill, Dulwich, London Fields and Bermondsey, has now re-instated dairy and eggs into the menu, and so now offers a vegetarian menu instead of a vegan one.
Other nurseries are following vegan-only diets
The events at the German Kindergarten follows hot on the heels of the controversy surrounding a nursery going vegan in Chester. The Jigsaw Curzon House Day Nursery has stuck to its original decision to remain vegan and is prepared to accept that some parents may take their children out of the nursery as a result.
Meanwhile, the Bodhi Tree Nursery in Kilburn, North London remains proudly vegan. It is a Montessori nursery with a Zen garden. Given that the nursery is named after the experience which led to the enlightenment of Gautama Buddha, it is thought likely that parents sending their children to the Bodhi Tree Nursery are more than happy for their children to have vegan-only food during nursery hours.
